The Otter and The Bear
by jimalim320
Summary: Super cute and fluffy Emison sleepover fic with stuffed animals. Just a cute one shot :)


**A/N: Hey there! This is just a cute Emison one shot I thought of the other night, I couldn't wait to write and post it for y'all. For those of you who aren't familiar with my multi-chapter Emison fic "Sleepless Night" please go check it out if you like my writing. It follows season 5 starting with the night Emily stays up all night watching Alison, and has a new chapter corresponding to each new episode. Please comment/review; I always love to hear what you guys think. Thanks so much and I hope you enjoy!**

It was about 3 am on a Friday night; Emily was sound asleep in her bed clutching a small stuffed animal to her chest. Now most would think being a high schooler Emily was too old to be sleeping with stuffed animals, Emily included. But this was different. Years ago, before Alison went missing; Ali had left this stuffed polar bear at Emily's house after one of their sleepovers. Emily never tried to return it, keeping it, because she wanted a little piece of Alison all to herself.

When Alison went missing Emily used to sleep with the bear every night, clutching it tightly thinking if she let it go Alison would disappear forever. Eventually as time went on and a few months turned into a year and then two, Emily had slowly weaned herself off the animal. She would only sleep with it on the particularly hard nights, the night of the funeral, after and A attack, after she dreamed she'd seen Alison. She hid it in the back of her closet; no one knew she had it. She had finally gotten to the point where she didn't need it anymore; she herself began to forget she had it.

It wasn't until they discovered Alison was still alive and sleep became harder and harder to come by did she remember her old comfort mechanism. She began sleeping with the stuffed animal more and more. Although she thought the whole thing was ridiculous Emily couldn't help but feel a little bit calmer, a little bit safer, holding on to that raggedy old bear. It had gotten her through a lot of rough nights, and tonight was no different.

….

Emily wasn't the only one having a rough night, Alison had tried every trick in the book to fall asleep, from medicine, milk, counting sheep, and nothing helped. There was only one surefire way to get her to sleep, Emily. Whenever she was with Emily, Alison felt completely safe. Her warm presence was enough to ward off all Alison's demons. Emily calmed her, protected her.

Alison debated whether or not to call Emily. She knew she would come over; Emily is always there for her. It was really late, surely she was sleeping. Alison didn't want to wake her. After minutes of tossing and turning she decided, enough was enough and instead got up put of some shoes and made her way over to Emily's house.

Luckily for Alison, the Field's still keep their spare house key in the same spot it's always been. Alison smiles fondly remembering all the times she used it in the past so her and Emily could have secret sleepovers. Emily had always been her own personal sleeping pill.

Alison slowly made her way into the house, locking the door behind her. She carefully made her way up to Emily's room not wanting to wake anyone. Upon entering Emily's room, Alison saw Emily sleeping soundly cuddled up in the middle of the bed with something under her arm. She made her way over to the bed and discovered the mystery object was a stuffed animal, not just any animal but her old stuffed bear. She had a flashback to the first time she showed Emily Mr. Stuffles, she laughed at how dumb a name that was.

_One night years ago Alison invited Emily over to spend the night. She only brought out her stuffed pal when she was alone with Emily. She was afraid the other girls would make fun of her for still sleeping with a teddy bear at their age, but she knew Emily wouldn't judge her, so she trusted Emily with her secret. _

_About a week later Spencer invited all the girls over for a sleepover in her barn, she left Mr. Stuffles at home, but Emily brought her own stuffed animal, a tiger. Alison was afraid Emily was going to say something about her bear so she did the only thing she knew how, she pointed out the tiger to all the other girls and laughed, "Em aren't you a little old to be sleeping with a stuffed animal?" The other girls didn't see anything wrong with it and just went about gossiping as before, like Alison had never said anything. Emily on the other hand was hurt, Alison could see in her eyes tears that were welling up. Emily just quietly got up and left, throwing her tiger out in the trash as she left. Alison had gone after her but Emily was gone before she could get out the door. The other girls had berated Alison for being a jerk and causing Emily to leave and Alison was quiet for the rest of the night, not partaking in any of the girl's games or conversations. She really felt terrible, and she knew she was wrong for thinking Emily would ever rat her out to the others the way she did to her. _

_The next day Alison went over to Emily's to apologize for being so mean. She explained her insecurity and how wrong she was, saying sorry like a million times, which is something Alison wasn't really known for doing. But Alison was different when it came to Emily, and Emily knew that. Something about their relationship was different, special than the rest. Emily was about to forgive her when Alison did something truly uncharacteristic. She handed Emily a small gift bag, explaining when Emily opened it; "It's an otter. It reminds me of you because they are such graceful swimmers." Emily was shocked, smiling and accepting both the gift and Alison's apology. _

_Later that night Emily and Alison were having another one of their special sleepovers. They were lying down, facing each other, talking and laughing. Moments before they were about to drift to sleep Alison broke the calm silence by saying, "Another reason I picked the otter was because otters hold hands while they sleep so they don't drift apart." And with those words Alison's hand found Emily's under the covers and they fell asleep like that, hands intertwined and the other arm wrapped around their stuffed animal. It was this same fashion that the rest of their sleepovers went, falling asleep holding hands as to never loose each other during the night._

Alison remembered when Emily lost her otter, accidentally leaving it at camp the summer after. She was heartbroken, so one night after one of their sleepovers Alison made sure to "forget" her bear at Emily's house. She had a feeling Emily would end up keeping it, and she didn't care, she knew Emily needed Mr. Stuffles more than she did. So that's why Alison was so pleased and surprised to find Emily sleeping with him tonight, almost 5 years later.

Alison slowly got into the bed, scotching up close to Emily. She gently lifted Emily's arm and pulled the bear out placing him on the other side of her. She snuggled up really close under Emily's arm, taking the position of the previously moved bear. All the movement and contact caused Emily to stir, it wasn't until Alison's hand found Emily's under the covers that she woke up.

"Ali?" She asked groggily, eyes still shut.

Ali just shhhed her saying she was fine, it's ok, and go back to sleep. Emily pulled Alison in close with the arm that was draped over her waist and placed a soft kiss on the top of her head. Ali breathed in Emily's scent deeply closing her eyes drifting off to sleep thinking, "why did I ever need Mr. Stuffles when I had my very own Emmy Bear this whole time?"

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Please leave a review to let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!**


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